Brammer bullish on prospects
BRAMMER, the North West-based distributor of industrial products, said trading since July had remained strong and it expects to “enjoy growth significantly ahead of the market.”
The Altrincham-based listed company, which moved into the tools sector in September with the £27m acquisition of Coventry firm Buck & Hickman, said it had continued to win new contracts and market share in recent months.
Five new pan-European key accounts were added, making 11 in the year to date. Brammer said total potential revenues from these accounts were worth more than £60m a year.
It said that the Buck & Hickman deal offers a “step change” in cross-selling opportunities throughout Europe, with even better opportunities for growth than it had previously expected.
“Since the acquisition our knowledge of the tools and general maintenance market has increased significantly and we now believe the market to be substantially larger than our original estimates; we will report further on this with our preliminary results announcement in early 2012,” Brammer said.
In the four months since July 1 sales per working day, excluding the acquisition, at constant currency rates were up 14.6% on last year.
Brammer said Buck & Hickman is trading well with sales per working day up 12% in October compared with last year.
Loking ahead the group stated: “November has started well. Notwithstanding the economic uncertainties in Europe, our strategy of focusing on key accounts, insites and cross-selling initiatives underpins the growth momentum.”
